Undocumented features/fixes in iPhone 2.1 firmware

sqrPi Undocumented features/fixes in iPhone 2.1 firmware.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

With screenshots. →Link

iPhone native interface vs the remote app

sqrPi iPhone native interface vs the remote app.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Apple should make the native interface just like the remote app’s. Here’s why. [via ★]  →Link

Dave Fayram takes a tour of the OpenMoko FreeRunner phone’s user interface

sqrPi Dave Fayram takes a tour of the OpenMoko FreeRunner phones user interface.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Some people just never get it until they see it. [via BoeingBoeing via ★] →Link

Response to the FSF’s claim

sqrPi Response to the FSFs claim.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

Even thought no one probably cares about FSF says, it’s still funny to read this guy’s response to FSF. →Link

1 million iPhones sold in China, report says

sqrPi 1 million iPhones sold in China, report says.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | Leave a Comment

And Apple has sold more than 6 million in total. In case you are wondering, China is not a member of the “big party” yet, it’s just that Chinese are crazy about cellphones. Be sure to check this related post. →Link

The potential piracy of iPhone apps

sqrPi The potential piracy of iPhone apps.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | 2 Comments

Disclaimer: We do not support piracy of any kind. As developers ourselves, we know the effort others have put to make those apps available. We strongly encourage you to purchase legit apps from the App Store. Our intention, simply driven by curiosity, is to make sure Apple is taking enough measure to protect developers, not the other way around. We will delete this post if it ever directly leads to piracy.

Just like its big brothers, iPhone is also a platform that piracy will eventually take place. The question is how hard it can be to pirate softwares for the iPhone and what measures Apple will take to prevent it.
For now, Apple uses Signing Certificate as it’s been proven to be a secure standard(Vista, for example).
72a01f7d702cd8d1827d4e44bb805791 The potential piracy of iPhone apps


After poking around with the new App store, I discovered that, by renaming the downloaded app file from *.ipa to *.zip and unzipping it, you will be able to get the app package. Now if you have a jailbroken iPhone, you can simply upload the app to your iPhone. As I’m sure you can’t just upload this file to your iPhone and simply run it, the FairPlay Version 2 DRM that Apple is using for these apps is not hard to hack. I tried to install Remote using this method, the app shows up in iPhone’s Laucher but it won’t run. I also purchased the game Enigmo, and tried to unpack it and upload it to my iPhone. It shows up in the Launcher but it still wouldn’t run.

bae695246226e0c51e1e5347ed0a5fc8 The potential piracy of iPhone apps

But the failure might just simply because of my iPhone is still running on 1.0.2. I will later install 2.0 firmware and test it out. It will not work most likely, but trying to find a solution will be on my list.
Either way, the bigger the app store grows, the sooner Apple will have to fight piracy to protect the developers who are paying 30% of their revenues to Apple.
Update: A user at ipodtouchfans.com has found out that “application can be traded”.

I took my friends ipod, on HIS COMPUTER. NO iTunes account watsoever, and sync my MonkeyBall.ipa to his ipod and it works fine!!!!

No iTunes account needed! just the ipa! I am not encouraging this illegal behavior nor am i providing a guide on how to do it. just making you aware of apples flaws.

-John

This is truly terrifying.
Update 2: There is an iTunesMetadata.plist file in the unzipped folder, it appears to contain the app and your iTunes account information. It seems that iTunes checks your shopping list to determine if the app is transferable to other account. Which means *.ipa is probably for packaging reasons, iTunes extracts the *.app folder off it and loads them on your phone(which is associated with the same iTunes account, just like the way iPod handles the music you download from iTunes music store). So if they are DRM encrypted, the key to decrypt them must be available in the phone somewhere, just like cracking the FairPlay DRM of music from iTunes music store.
Also, every app packages appear to have two additional folders(see the picture above), a _CodeSignature folder(Signature key), and a SC_Info folder(don’t know what this folder is for yet). The CodeResources file is an XML file(Property list) that contains a signature for each file.
This means they are indeed signed, which also means it may be cracked by patching the iPhone OS to ignore signatures.

It may be reasonable for iTunes to check the apps everytime when you sync to make sure they are legit.
Still, the only way we suggest is to purchase from the App Store.

Update 3: It seems App Store has a lot of unsettled questions.

What exactly does Fairplay for apps mean?
Apple has stated that they’ll apply Fairplay protection to applications purchased through the Apple store, but we don’t know what that means. Will the software be tied to a single device, and if so, what happens when the user gets a new iPhone? Can this software be backed up and later recovered? As seen in Edward Spodick’s comment on my previous article, users are quite wary of their software being tied to one device.

How will developers get customer information?
Right now, when we sell software to a customer, we get all manner of information. We can track visitors, hits, downloads, and more. We also get a name and email address we can use to contact the customer later, if needed. Will we get any of this from the App Store? If so, what pieces of it?
How will support be handled?

What about trials?
We provide free trials of all our software for Mac and Windows. Just like test-driving a car, you can test our software, before you buy it. The goal here is to make sure our users know just what they’re getting, and that it will perform as expected. How will we accomplish this in the App Store? Can we have free software that’s just a trial, and then link it to a paid version?

How will refunds be handled?
Even with our free trials, we occasionally need to issue a refund to our users. As an independent developer, we can handle this on our own, but what happens with the App Store? Can we make this happen? Further, can users go directly through Apple to receive a refund, without ever interacting with the developer? For that matter, will there be refunds at all? With music and movies purchased from Apple, there’s no obvious way to get a refund. If a user has a problem though, we don’t want them to be left holding the bag and hating us.
How do we give out review copies?
We often provide free licenses to journalists and other people to whom we’d like to give a free copy of our software. To do this, we can just generate a license key and provide it via email to the recipient, then they can download our trial and unlock it with the key. However, it’s not clear how we can provide these sorts of review copies through the App Store.
What about other pricing concerns?
Currently, we have a coupon system in our store, we can offer upgrade pricing for users who’ve purchased old versions, we can offer volume discounts for large purchases, and much, much more. All of these things, and more, help our bottom line. We’ll want to do them with iPhone Apps, but will we be able to?

A commenter said Apple will presumably use exactly the same way as they did for Fairplay for music and videos. I.E. unlimited iPods (iPhones), tied to your iTunes account.
For reviewer, Ad Hoc distribution wouldn’t work in my opinion, and developers haven’t got the official word from Apple on this matter yet.

It seems App Store has to a lot to questions and problems(naming mechanics, for example) to deal with.
[Read:Open Questions for The App Store]

Genuine fake iPhone

sqrPi Genuine fake iPhone.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | 2 Comments

Genuine fake iPhone. Looks real except it only displays the Apple logo.→Link

iPhone firmware 2.0 download link found from Apple website’s XML file

sqrPi iPhone firmware 2.0 download link found from Apple websites XML file.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | 2 Comments

“digging through Apple’s XML files has revealed the url to the iPhone 2.0 Firmware that is presently available on Apple’s servers.” [Via Macrumors][Firmware download Link(225MB)]

The picture says it all

sqrPi The picture says it all.Apple,Inc Geek | Written by Kay | 3 Comments

1b1bd6e18717af62a6b8220d28d6910a The picture says it all

Apple

iPhone 3G

Twice as fast.

Half the price.

at&t

Well, not really

after we raised our data plan pricing to 30$/month

Click on the image to see large image.

So it’s clear Apple no longer takes a cut from the carrier, then it doesn’t really explain the 199$ price tag. My guess is the App Store will make up for it. 30% of the price of each app will be subtracted by Apple to pay their “service fee”. Thus if we have 20 million iPhone users at the end of this year(very likely), and say 50% of them purchase 10$ app in their lifetime(also very possible), Apple is then going to take 10$*50%*20,000,000 = 100,000,000$ away. While it’s far less than what the revenue share program with at&t might give Apple, it is however preparing for a huge future. And by huge I mean huge monopoly.
What? You may ask. Here’s a hint, imagine Microsoft invented PCs, and then it charges 30% of the price for each copy of your software selling to the PCs.
Greedy and evil. Ah well, time to get Apple shares again.

Update: Here’s a interesting article from John Gruber:

……According to Gizmodo, iPhone 3Gs will now require in-store activation, and Apple will no longer be getting a cut of the monthly phone service fees. The upside, though, is obvious: at $199, and with the expansion to 70 countries around the world, Apple is going to sell a shitload of iPhones.
……
So, step one: sell a ton of iPhones and grab a huge chunk of worldwide smartphone market share. That’s the new $199 iPhone 3G. Step two: introduce features that people and companies love but which tie them to the iPhone. That’s the SDK games and apps from App Store, and custom in-house apps for the enterprise market.

……The platform is the story. Platforms have staying power, and, once entrenched, are very hard to displace.

Don’t know if I quoted too much, but he got it right.
Update Two: New post from MacRumors:

No other mobile platforms provide as integrated a solution as the App Store to distribute applications directly to the customer. Despite some vocal concerns about the 70%/30% developer/Apple split on App sales, other carriers are said to take up to 60% of revenue on other platforms. One analyst projects that the App store could create a $1 billion-plus iPhone ecosystem by the end of 2009.